Thursday, December 03, 2009

Stephen King is apparently sketching out a possible sequel to the Shining. Danny, the traumatized boy of the original book, now works in a hospice where he helps people get over the fear of death, while also making money at the track. Sounds potentially cheesy, but then so do many of his better ideas. There may be some overlap with Connie Willis' fantastic if overly long Passage.

On the subject of horror novels, I just read another short story by Laird Barron. This one called is called the Progression of the Black Sloth and man is it a nightmarish tale. The story, which concerns an investigator flying to Hong Kong creates the feeling of reality unraveling and the flash of terrible images that you see in movies like Angelheart, Lost Highway and Jacob's Ladder. Super good stuff. Here is an interview with the author where he talks about the influence of Asian cinema on the story.